Thursday 8 January 2009

Bake

Regulars to my blog will know that I’m a Rachel Allen fan. In the Autumn of last year a new book by Irish cook Rachel came out titled simply Bake. I’ve been cooking from it since it plopped onto my doormat, and here is a bumper post of baking from Bake to make your tastebuds happy, well if you are sweet toothed that is! Bake was one of the books (along with Nigella Chrsitmas) that I gave as Christmas presents this year, and they both seem to have been well received.

Poppy Seed Cake
This was a cake I made for my birthday last year, and I was so looking forward to it. It was really moist and the icing was lovely, but apparently neither my family or myself are very keen on poppy seeds! The birds thought they had a very tasty treat though.

Peanut Butter and White Chocolate Blondies
This was the first recipe I made from bake, lovely bars.

St Stephen’s Day Muffins
A recipe to be made on Boxing Day, which I did, made with some leftover Christmas Pudding. These were surprisingly good, a dash of whisky making them feel quite treat like, they kept well too.

Chocolate Lave Cakes
I made these for a Hogamny (New Years Eve) dinner. The molten bit in the middle was gorgeous, and they turned out fine. I’m going to add a bit more sugar next time as they were not sweet enough for us.
Coconut Roulade with Lemon Curd Cream and Raspberries
Absolutley stunningly good dessert. There are a couple of variations on this recipe – coffee and cherry-rosewater that I’m keen to try as well.

Quiche Lorraine
I’ve made a number of quiche Lorraine’s and had settled on Tamasin Day-Lewis’s one. I’m not really sure why I tried this one, but I did and it now reigns supreme in the quiche Lorraine stakes – the best!

Date Bread and Butter Pudding with Boozy Toffee Sauce
Different and good. A warning though the boozy toffee sauce packs a real punch and isn’t at all suitable for kiddie winks! She also has a white chocolate and apple bread and butter pudding that I’d like to try this Winter.

Oven Pasta Bake
This is a pasta bake where the pasta is actually cooked in the oven. A deeply savoury supper. My friend has also made this and gives it the thumbs up.

Lemon Cupcakes
A sweet little cupcake, these were good, but my favourite remains Nigella’s ones from Forever Summer.

Baked Rice Pudding
This was just exactly the nursery pudding that you’d want it to be, rich (though not really as no cream) and so comforting, actually I’ve wanted to make this again almost constantly since I made it in early December!

Dutch Apple Cake
A really fabulous Apple cake! It’s not a looker per se, but a must make recipe! I used Pink Lady apples, as cooking apples give me an awfully sore tummy. I’m sure any apple would be lovely.

Dutch Apple Cake
From Bake by Rachel Allen 2008
2 eggs
175g caster sugar
½ teaspoon vanilla essence
75g butter
75ml milk
125g plain flour
½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
2¼ teaspoons baking powder
Two small or one medium cooking apple
75ml cream, to serve
15g caster sugar, for sprinkling
(1)Preheat the oven to 200ºC, Gas Mark 6. Grease, and line with parchment paper, an 8"x 8" square tin.
(2)Whisk the eggs with the 175g caster sugar until the mixture is thick and mousse-like and the whisk leaves a figure '8'.
(3)Melt the butter with the milk and pour onto the eggs, whisking all the time. Sieve in the flour and baking powder and fold carefully into the batter so that there are no lumps of flour. Pour the mixture into the prepared tin.
(4)Peel and core the apples and slice into thin slices. Arrange them over the batter. Sprinkle with the remaining 15g of sugar. Bake in the preheated oven for 10 minutes, then reduce the heat to 180ºC, Gas Mark 4, for a further 20 to 25 minutes, or until well risen and golden brown.
Cool in the tin and serve warm.

22 comments:

Rhyleysgranny said...

Goodness Kelly you must have baked the whole book!.Everything looks lovely. I have only made a couple of things from it. I love the book.You have inspired me to keep going
xxx

Anonymous said...

another fan of tamasin day-lewis's quiche lorraine--in fact I made it for lunch today. one of many things i love about it--no pre-baking of the shell.
I do find TD-L fascinating. I have a lovely (thanks to her great answers, not my questions) mini-interview with her on my blog.

Kate said...

Wow KJ, you've made an awful lot from the book. I was lucky enough to get the book for Christmas, I've only made her scones so far (delicious) but have bought some dates for the date pudding - it looks so good.

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

OH MY GOODNESS Kelly-Jane, shame about your birthday cake but it all looks fantastic to me! x

Anonymous said...

Nice to see your recommendations, Kelly as i bought this book for my daughter as a surprise Christmas pressie. I think it is always nice to get a book for Christmas, don't you?
I shall tell her about your choices, she has already made the blondies and said they were lovely. She lives in Devon, we live in Wales so I don't get to taste her baking that often, unfortunately!
Jeannette

Oh my! Apple pie! said...

I'm hoping to get this book for my birthday next week.....my hints at Christmas time fell on deaf ears, Lol.
All your bakes look fabulous, you have been busy.

Coby said...

K-J I just adore that you share your love of cooking with others by giving the cookbooks you love, that's just a beautiful thing. I can't get over the wonderful things you have created, I am thrilled to see the recipe for the Dutch Apple Cake. Having a Dutch mum who never really cooked anything special, I am always ready to embrace anything that I feel I 'should' know;) I might whip it up tomorrow so thank you BIG heaps:D

PS, You could sell those quiches for a lot of money - that looks like perfection!

Hayley said...

Crikey, someone's been busy! I too made the Quiche Lorraine and I have to agree, especially as someone who isn't a quiche fan, it was delicious xxx

Gemma said...

This all looks great as usual. I think this book may be the thing to get me over my anti Rachel Allan feelings, Not sure it will be enough to get me watching her on Market Kitchen though!

Cynthia said...

You are absolutely amazing!

Kelly-Jane said...

Granny, Glossy, Amanda, Erica, Hayley, Gemma and Cynthia - thank you all.

Casey, I'll pop over and have a look.

Jeannette, it is an essential to get a nice cookbook for CHristmas, I hope your daughter likes it as much as I do!

Coby, I hope you like it if you manage to give it a try :)

KJxx

Peabody said...

Holy Cow, I want to eat everything you made!

Maggie said...

Wonderful round up of cooking from Bake.
I have made the Dutch Apple Cake a couple of times now and so delicious - shame it isn't more showy!!

Amanda at Little Foodies said...

p.s. I love your cake stand and dome cover.

Anonymous said...

I love cakes and all your cakes looks delicious..I wish I can have those cakes right now.. Love your blog too..
restaurant refrigeration

Nazarina A said...

Fabulous recipes! I am sure you got a lot of kisses for these lovelies!

Anonymous said...

That baked rice pudding sounds like perfect comfort food! I'd never think to bake it but it's a great idea :).

Rosie said...

Hi K.J. what a wonderful round-up of goodies you have here, bravo. I also like Rachel Allen and all her recipes appear faultless to recreate. I love this new book Bake and what an inspiration you are to me to try out more of Rachel's recipes.

Great to be back viewing your creations after my absence due to illness. Happy New Year to you and the family.

Rosie x

Maria♥ said...

Kelly I always love your round-up posts with lots of pics of gorgeous treats, they make me want to bake!

Maria
x

Anna's kitchen table said...

Kelly-jane, WOW! You have been very busy!
It all looks so wonderful...I'll have a bit of everything please!
xx

JillyB said...

KJ, what great viewing. You've been so busy. I really felt part of your family looking at all your beautiful crockery and I loved the glimpse of kiddies knuckle,I could almost feel the anticipation of getting 'stuck in' after the photo had been taken.

Kelly-Jane said...

Thank you for your comments :)